This Is 40 (2012)

A look at the lives of Pete and Debbie a few years after the events of Knocked Up.

Director:

Judd Apatow

Writers:

Judd Apatow, Judd Apatow (based on characters created by)

Stars:

Paul Rudd, Leslie Mann, Maude Apatow

1 win & 8 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Paul Rudd	...	Pete
Leslie Mann	...	Debbie
Maude Apatow	...	Sadie
Iris Apatow	...	Charlotte
Jason Segel	...	Jason
Annie Mumolo	...	Barb
Robert Smigel	...	Barry
Megan Fox	...	Desi
Charlyne Yi	...	Jodi
Hugh Fink	...	Male Boutique Customer
Graham Parker	...	Himself
Tom Freund	...	Graham Parker Solo Band
D.A. Sandoval	...	Older Pregnant Parent
Megan Grano	...	School Playdate Parent
Mackenzie Aladjem	...	School Playmate Child

Storyline

Pete (Paul Rudd) and Debbie (Leslie Mann) are turning 40. But instead of celebrating, they're mired in a mid-life crisis with unruly kids, debt and unhappiness mounding. Pete's record label is failing and Debbie is unable to come to terms with her aging body. As Pete's 40th birthday party arrives, Pete and Debbie are going to have to rely on family, friends, employees, fitness trainers, aging rockers and ultimately each other to come to terms with life at age 40.

---

Plot Keywords:

40th birthday | birthday | written by director | singing in a car | 40 year old | 

---

Taglines:

The Sort-of Sequel to 'Knocked Up'

---

Genres:

Comedy

---

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for sexual content, crude humor, pervasive language and some drug material

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

21 December 2012 (USA)

Also Known As:

This Is Forty

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$35,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$11,579,175 (USA) (21 December 2012)

Gross:

$67,523,385 (USA) (22 February 2013)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Apatow Productions, Forty Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

134 min

Sound Mix:

SDDS Datasat Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Pete (Paul Rudd) makes a joke comparing his sexual prowess to that of 'David Schwimmer' (and Ross, Schwimmer's character from "Friends") in a way that makes it clear that he thinks that neither Pete nor Schwimmer are very good in bed. A spokeswoman for Schwimmer told the Chicago Sun-Times newspaper that Schwimmer was not asked beforehand if he would be okay with being the butt of that joke, but Judd Apatow clarified that he didn't mean anything insulting by it; just that Schwimmer is an example of a famous person who is more like Apatow. Paul Rudd was a regular guest star on "Friends" during the show's last two seasons.

---

Goofs

Pete informs Debbie that two of Graham Parker's albums appeared in Rolling Stone Magazine's Top 500 Albums of All Time. This is incorrect: only one Squeezing Out Sparks (1979) appeared at no. 335.

---

Quotes

Graham Parker: Got a bit of a problem. Touch of gout.
Pete: Gout?
Graham Parker: Yeah, my whole family, they all had gout.
Pete: Jesus.
Ronnie: That's very unfortunate.
Graham Parker: My auntie Queenie, she had a foot like the size of a small pig. I've got a photo of it.
Ronnie: I'd love to see that photo of that gout foot.
Graham Parker: A couple of bunions as well.
Ronnie: Fuck.

---

Crazy Credits

After the main credits roll, there's an extended alternate take of Catherine ad-libbing insults during the conversation with the Julie, Pete, and Debbie.

---

Connections

Featured in The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: Episode #21.59 (2012)

---

Soundtracks

"Always Judging (Instrumental)"
Written and Performed by Norah Jones
Produced by Jon Brion
Courtesy of Blue Note Records
Under license from EMI Film & Television Music

User Reviews

Dragging out unfunny comedy with rude characters

The supporting characters of "Knocked Up" (2007) have matured. Married couple Pete (Paul Rudd) and Debbie (Leslie Mann) are turning 40. This does not mean that writer, director Judd Apatow has matured. It's a bit more of a dramedy than some of his other comedic adventures but it's still his typical low-brow humour spread out for over two hours. The characters are older, more assured in who they are, but their responses to life are less cultured.

Pete eats too many cupcakes, makes poor business decisions and doesn't tell his wife that they have to sell their house. Debbie obsesses over younger and hotter bodies, nags her husband about their sex life, and takes extreme reactions to every little, or big, thing. Debbie is rude, selfish, inconsiderate, immature and so disconnected from every reasonable woman that there is no humanly possible way to make her likable let alone funny. Pete was slightly better; still selfish, inconsiderate and immature but at least his jokes were just unfunny rather than rude.

The plot, in the loosest sense of that word, has Pete turning 40 and Debbie is going to throw his birthday party, but Pete is pre-occupied with his failing business and Debbie is pre-occupied with hating him. She is also obsessed with getting a tighter body and ogling them on younger women — this involves feeling up her young employee (Megan Fox) and hiring a fitness trainer. The main cameo of many returning Apatow players is Jason Segel as the fitness trainer. Why? Because it's supposed to be funny.

Everything in the first two hours or so was done solely for the comedy. Some of it was funny (Pete is played by Paul Rudd after all and there's a small role for Melissa McCarthy), but a lot of it was in the trailer, and most of it was just stupid. It was also at this point, the two-hour mark, that Debbie declares, "All of a sudden, we're a magnet of negativity. What did we do?" Maybe she wasn't watching the movie, but this has been two hours, it's not all of a sudden, and secondly, she is the source of the negativity. This should be the turning point for the film but Debbie still hasn't figured out how horrible of a person she is. That comes later.

Very similar to "The Five-Year Engagement" (2012), another romantic comedy that took way too long to come to its inevitable conclusion, "This is 40" only gets emotionally resonant when the characters finally make the change for the better. Too bad that in this case the characters were too far from redeemable in the first place.